Friday, June 28, 2013

Cell phones, televisions and soft-serve ice cream are paralleled during this discussion highlighting the differences between a feature phone and smartphone, along with the evolution of the smart TV. Today, ice cream, phones and TVs come in many varieties, but that wasn’t always the case considering that it hasn’t been that long ago that “vanilla” was the flavor of necessity for all three.

During the first quarter of 2013 the smartphone surpassed the feature phone in units shipped. Upgrading to a new cell phone will require some decisions, based upon the user’s expectations of the “closed functioning” feature phone and the wide open, more costly performance of the smartphone.

Today’s market is also closing the gap between the traditional, video-content-only TV and the media-rich options present on many of the current models. Smart TVs offer the viewer the opportunity to use apps, stream content from external devices, engage in social media discourse, and video chat around the world.

But, be forewarned that research indicates only about 50% of the smart TVs currently in use are connected to the internet and utilizing anything more than standard video content channels.

I use the Casual Tech User Flipboard magazine I created to collect and share articles of interest for the casual tech consumer. You can read these specially selected articles by accessing the Flipboard app on your iOS or Android devices.